Sunday, November 20, 2016

I had looked forward to writing
you a letter of congratulations after you moved into the White House as the
first woman President of the United States. I had hoped to see you in person
some day and shake your hand and be just as exhilarated as I was when I shook
Geraldine Ferraro’s, our first woman vice presidential candidate. As far as I’m
concerned, you’re right up there with Eleanor Roosevelt, Susan B. Anthony,
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the countless women who stepped out of their traditional
roles as women in order to make a difference to our nation and our world.

I want to thank you for your work
as First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State where you were intelligent, well-prepared,
understood the purpose of public service and possessed the courage to sustain
the terrible and strange negativity that was spewed out against you. You never
backed down or cowered from your opponents. I know of few women or men who
could have done that—on the national stage no less!

I also want to thank you for
being gracious in defeat and conceding this election in the true spirit of our democracy
after such a contentious and disappointing battle, especially after winning the
popular vote.

I believe you would have been a
good president America could be proud of, and I’m truly sorry more people chose
not to see that in you. The misogyny that occurred during the campaign is so typical
of what happens to women who dare to lead.

Some—both men and women—just can’t
take the thought of a woman leader. It unsettles them. They believe something
is wrong and out-of-whack, so they cook up hysterical excuses to slap you down.
Any woman who has tried to assert or advance herself knows this to be true. Any
woman who has an ounce of ambition has experienced what it is like to be called
out and trounced. And yet, you found the strength to overcome these
obstacles and persevere.

I believe you are a woman with a
depth of soul and purpose. These are especially admirable qualities to have in
politics, which is easily the most exciting, albeit dirtiest game around. Unfortunately,
sexism took hold of the nation just as racism, homophobia and ethnic and
religious discrimination are rearing their ugly heads again all over our
country now. This is very disturbing, but maybe some good will come out of it.
Maybe Americans will be moved to unite and fight against these injustices.
Maybe more women will pursue political, institutional and community leadership.
Maybe, we will become a stronger nation
because women and men decided to work together to address the real issues of our time, namely, environmental degradation,
economic inequality, tolerance for differences, student debt, poverty, violence
and war, issues that were somehow overlooked during this campaign.

I am sorry about the election.
You deserved to win. You would have been a positive, open and progressive force
on our nation and our world, but we blew it. My gosh, almost 50 percent of
Americans didn’t even bother to vote!

I hope you find peace in these
next few months and over the years. And I hope you are comforted by the fact
that although you didn’t win the presidency, you are like Susan B. Anthony who
didn’t see the vote for women but cleared a path for other capable women in the
future.

Saturday, November 19, 2016

Click herefor WMMT news story announcing the CSJ prayer service for AleppoClick here for WMMT news story on the prayer service

The Sisters of St. Joseph held a special prayer service for the people of
Aleppo, Syria, who are victims of the terrible war and destruction there. This
service is part of a worldwide solidarity movement for peace to let the people,
aid workers, charities and victims of war in Aleppo know that they are not
forgotten.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20

6 p.m.

front steps of Nazareth
Center

3427 Gull Road

Luminaries made by the sisters lit up the front steps of the building as people join together in
prayer.

For those
who could not attend the service, the sisters asked that they light a candle for the
people of Aleppo and place it in the front windows of their homes.

A Light for Aleppo movement began in Scotland.

A Prayer for the People of Syria

Almighty eternal God, source of all compassion,the promise of your mercy and saving help fills our hearts with hope.Hear the cries of the people of Syria, especially the children;bring healing to those suffering from the violence,and comfort to those mourning the dead.Empower and encourage Syria's neighbors in their care and welcome for refugees.Convert the hearts of those who have taken u arms,and strengthen the resolve of those committed to peace.O God of hope and Father of mercy,your Holy Spirit inspires us to look beyond ourselves and our own needs.Inspire leaders to choose peace over violence and to seek reconciliationwith enemies.Inspire the Church around the world with compassion for the people of Syria,and fill us with hope for a future of peace built on justice for all.We ask this through Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace and Light of the World,who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Donald Trump’s victory left a lot of us numb and speechless. His rise to the
presidency was inconceivable and yet throughout the 18-month campaign, he
defied all odds and made it to the top.

-->

At first I couldn’t figure out
what to do with this news, but I was certain I didn’t want to be angry for the
next four years. That attitude, in fact, elected Trump and I didn’t want to
feed it. Instead, I decided to handle this disaster in a spiritual way. So I spent
the day in prayer and consultation with octogenarian nuns who have seen it all and
later attended an inter-faith prayer service at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in
Kalamazoo. Throughout the day I seemed to encounter people who helped me
formulate a plan of action for dealing with this unforeseen and potentially
destructive next four years. I pass it on to you as a sincere offering of hope
and action.

·Regard this time as a special
time in our country that calls us to act with love, compassion, peace and joy
to all the people we encounter instead of acting rashly out of hatred, violence
or disgust.

·Focus on the local community and
make it a good place to live for everyone.
Take care of others by empathetic listening.

·Support and protect people who
are from minority groups, different faiths, the LGBT community, pregnant women,
women vulnerable to rape and sexual harassment, international visitors, immigrants,
refugees, study abroad students and anyone who may be a target for bullying,
ridicule or violence.

·Cry if you must. Be sad if you
are sad. But pick yourself up again and be with people. Don’t dwell on negative
feelings. Instead, hold another’s
pain, fear, anger and disappointment in your
hand for a while so they can re-orient themselves to take the necessary time
they need to find a level of comfort and solitude that will enable them to deal
with their difficulties.

·Pray for those who voted for
Trump because they felt disenfranchised and angry. They were hurting but we failed
to hear them. They felt alone, betrayed and scared about their future, but we
failed to go to them. Sometimes, we even mocked them. Remember that they are our
fellow Americans, and some of them are from our families. We need to be
there with them and with each other much like we did after the 9/11 attacks.

·Watch less TV news and avoid too
much social media. Rely less on polls and pundits—both conservative and liberal.
Read more serious magazines and newspapers and watch more thoughtful media that
analyze the issues and provide the facts. Then, look at the people around you
and see where they are, hear what they say. Look into your own heart and use
your own eyes and ears to understand what is going on. Spend more time in solitude
because it grounds you, calms you, helps you see more clearly and be more
receptive to the needs of others. This is an experiment in “otherness” rather
then “me-ness.”

A Trump victory was definitely
not what I wanted, but now that it is here, let’s regard it an opportunity for
us to change ourselves, especially in the absence of genuine leadership from
government—which will now include "outsider" Trump. As Detroit philosopher and activist
Grace Lee Boggs said: “We are the leaders we have been waiting for.” Let's move ourselves in that direction. A Trump
victory is an opportunity for us to make our communities good, safe and vital
places to live. It is an opportunity for creativity. It is an opportunity to
make a difference in our own lives and in the lives of others if we can commit
ourselves to love, gentleness, peace and joy.

Sunday, November 6, 2016

Two days to go before the
election. Nothing else has exploded in our faces—yet. There are cases of voter
suppression, courtesy of the GOP, but no new information on Hillary’s e-mails
or Trump’s sexual predation. The real fear looming over us is the aftermath of
either a Trump win or the backlash of a Hillary presidency.

I think Hillary has played fair,
although she’s never backed down from a fight. Donald is a bully, a name caller
and an outright nasty, inappropriate person. My hope is that we don’t have to
hear from him again, but I doubt that will happen. His thin skin will not allow
him to lose graciously or quietly, and he’ll probably grumble that “the
election was rigged” until the day he dies—just as he kept the birther argument
alive for five years and wouldn’t quit. He is such a little man and the only
thing keeping him afloat is his money and his hatred for people not like him.
That he should appeal to so many people shows the downward slide in the
conscience of our country and its values. What an embarrassment he would be as the
leader of the most powerful country in the world!

I hope Hillary wins. The polls
seem to be in her favor. Despite all the negativity toward her and the scandals
surrounding her, I think she will make a great president. But that can only
happen if she has some coattails in the Senate and comes close to winning 30 House
seats. The FBI will be after her. Die-hard Trump supporters will be after her. Frankly,
I don’t know how she finds the strength to go on. It’s not just about her
ambition—and she has plenty of it. There is a biggness about her, a biggness of
soul that runs through her veins and allows her to take the hits and keep on going.
I couldn’t do that even at the county politics level and here she is taking it
at the national level not to mention the international level with Putin’s alleged
shenanigans. What strength and courage she has! That’s the kind of president I
want. That’s the kind of leadership we need.

Hillary is certainly a role model
for all women and girls. And, now, she is about to become president of the
United States, our first woman president. She’s controversial, yes, but I think
that’s mostly because she is a woman. Surprisingly, that fact didn’t really
stick during the campaign. It was present through Trump’s Access Hollywood tape and his nasty comments about women, but it
wasn’t directly addressed. It was as though he didn’t even acknowledge Hillary was a woman. Instead, he focused on
Hillary’s e-mails, which were not clearly a crime at the time, and the Clinton
Foundation, which has done a lot of good for a lot of people.

The poisonous environment we have
endured over the past two years of this election cycle is likely to intensify
after Hillary is elected and takes office. Misogyny will undoubtedly take on
newer, more overt levels throughout the country and then it will be obvious that sexism was the central
issue of this campaign. But maybe some good will come out of it. Maybe women
will unite and fight sexist discrimination they still encounter and that
Hillary will encounter. And if we do, maybe we will become stronger—together.
Maybe we will create an undercurrent that quietly and surreptitiously changes
the world, but no one notices for a while. Hillary’s presidency will not be
about liberals and conservatives fighting it out to the death, but about men and
women working together to shape a new world that is able to meet the real challenges ahead of us, namely,
environmental degradation, tolerance for differences, student debt, poverty,
war. This is the possibility before us if Hillary wins.

God bless our country. We are
approaching the chance of radically changing who we are and how we will
influence the world—and we will all be participants in our democracy, not
spectators of reality TV.